The Legend of El Hombre Peludo del Rio - The Hairy Man of the River
by Jean-Christophe Guillaume
Summary: A local legend of the mysterious "Hairy Man" in South Carolina is recorded for the first time, as a short story in docu-fiction style. Rumored sightings near Orangeburg, South Carolina, on the Edisto River inspired the writing of, "The Legend of 'El Hombre Peludo del Rio' - The Hairy Man of the [Edisto] River." Is the lost legend of this southern Sasquatch real - or fantasy?


_A__ local legend of the mysterious "Hairy Man" __in South Carolina __is __recorded__ for the first time__, as a short story in docu-fiction style__. Rumored sightings near Orangeburg, South Carolina, on the Edisto River inspired the writing of, __"__The Legend of __'__El Hombre Peludo del Rio__' - __The Hairy Man of the __[__Edisto__]__ River__." __Is the lost legend of this southern S__as__quatch real __- __or fantasy? _

**The Legend of "El Hombre Peludo del Rio****" - ****The Hairy Man of the ****[****Edisto****]**** River**

by Jean-Christophe Guillaume

When I was a young boy, I wandered the woods and fields along the North Fork Edisto River of South Carolina in search of adventure, Indian arrowheads, and wild game. One fateful afternoon, while searching for arrowheads along the edge of a plowed field, I heard a piercing shriek and rustling disturbance from the forest bottom below that turned me as pale as the bark of a River Birch tree. Frightened and alone, I hurried to the only home within a country mile, a small and simple farmhouse occupied by an elderly black lady that was an acquaintance of my family - the last member of a family of tenant farmers from a difficult, bygone era. I often stopped by to visit on my weekend adventures, but this time she knew that I was frightened - and also why.

I asked her if she had heard the loud shrieking from the swamp that day - and she had. She said that she often heard the shrieks because it was the call of the "Hairy Man" that she had seen only once in her lifetime, when she too was a young child. She then shared the story of the first white men [Spaniards] to encounter the beast and of her Native and African ancestors that passed the story down from generation to generation - her mother sharing it with her, only after she had had her own close encounter. Now I share the tale with you, with some added historical context that was largely unknown in its oral tradition, having recently heard rumor that Orangeburg folk have had sightings once again.

In April of 1540, Hernando de Soto and his men were camped in the pine forest between the North and South Forks of the Edisto River. They were starving and without direction, having been deceived by their native guides that had been enslaved from what is today the states of Florida and Georgia. Searching in vain for a storied capital of riches, a weary de Soto sent two small groups of men to scout for native camps to plunder for food and supplies. One group headed west, up the South Fork of the Edisto, the other group headed east, down the North Fork of the Edisto .

Between what is today Edgefield, to the west, and Orangeburg, to the east, the North and South Forks of the Edisto were found to be vacant of native villages. The scouts from the west returned with only a few captured natives and no goods. From the vicinity of Orangeburg, all but one of the scouts in the second group went missing. The remaining soul returning with a remarkable tale of an ambush by "el hombre peludo del rio" - the hairy man of the river.

The petrified man reported that they had seen no one for days when they suddenly heard hollow knocking sounds in the pine forest, soon followed by an attack by a robust hairy man armed only with a simple river cane spear. When struck with the spear, the river cane splintered on contact with the Spaniards' chainmail armor, the long splinters forcing through to its victim's heart. The lone survivor stated that when the beast killed each man it let out a piercing, loud shriek as if to signal others - others that were never seen.

The natives captured by the westward party were brutally questioned by de Soto's men - one being burned alive - but in fear, they would not call it by name nor make mention of the beast's very existence. Believing the survivor to be stricken mad by general hardship, de Soto cast him out again to retrieve the missing men - alive or their bodies, or to die in his challenge. The frightened, starving man did not return from his quest. Enraged, de Soto ordered his scribe to burn the record of his outlandish tale, so that it would never be told again.

But, this story and those of others that followed have lived on: first through the oral traditions of Native and African slaves in the Colonial and Antebellum eras, then by rural folk tales, and today through social networks online. If you hear, or have heard, the knocking in the woods, a sudden piercing shriek, or catch a glimpse of "the hairy man of the river" be sure to tell someone your tale!


End file.
